Kiwis helping to save kiwi

Working in partnership to save our national icon.

We are all thrilled to launch Comvita's partnership with Save the Kiwi to help create kiwi-safe bird habitats in our Mānuka forests across Aotearoa New Zealand.

This important partnership will see the implementation of predator management plans on land managed by Comvita – which will not only enhance biodiversity and provide kiwi-safe habitats, but also enable other native flora and fauna to flourish.

One of our remote Mānuka forests is on Makino Station in the lower North Island’s Manawatu-Whanganui region and is already home to 22 kiwi – making it a perfect place to start our predator management to protect this taonga (treasured) species.

Why? Because kiwi used to thrive in Aotearoa New Zealand for millennia and numbered in their millions, their piercing calls filling the inky night. But in just a few hundred years, widespread clearing of forest and introduced predators have seen the numbers of these ground dwelling birds rapidly decline. Our forests, once loud with bird call, are falling silent. Today, stoats, ferrets, dogs, and other predators pose a great danger to this unique bird.

Our national icon, the well-known symbol representing New Zealanders around the world, is in danger of disappearing altogether. As a proudly Kiwi company since 1974, we’re determined not to let this happen!

Kaitiakitanga is in our nature.

Everything we do at Comvita is guided by our founding principle of Kaitiakitanga, or guardianship and protection of nature. This principle underpins our work to create these sanctuaries for these flightless heroes, so that in time, they can once again flourish.

Save the Kiwi is just one of our key Harmony projects, alongside For the Love of Bees and Saving the Wild, and more recently, supporting the roll-out of Wasp Wipeout in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand.

Our Harmony Plan is our contribution towards creating a planet in which bees and people can thrive together, with sustainability goals of restoring nature’s balance, addressing climate change and supporting communities. We commit 1% of gross earnings to our Harmony partnerships, and we aim to to keep building partnerships that connect people to nature.

You see, we truly believe that business can be a force for good. By undertaking these initiatives, we’re living our values and purpose, working in harmony with nature, and healing and protecting the world as we go.

We hope you’ll join us too. 

How can you get involved:

• Donate to Save the Kiwi
• Support Save the Kiwi with your time, assist in such conservation efforts  or volunteer to set traps

Learn more about this amazing bird at:  https://www.savethekiwi.nz 

Kiwi can live for 40-50 years and can lay up to 100 eggs in their lifetime, so we’re thrilled to be helping to save Aotearoa New Zealand’s national icon.